


to love and to be loved

by BookRockShooter



Series: post s6 things to help me cope [7]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Coming Out, Confessions, Fluff, Gay Keith (Voltron), Getting Together, Keith and Lance finally talk and confess to each other oof, M/M, Minor Season 7 Spoilers, Minor Swearing, Post-Canon, Post-Season/Series 06, ahh tags, but i love them anyway, i guess, just fluff at this point lmao, these boys are disasters lmao
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-07
Updated: 2018-08-07
Packaged: 2019-06-23 06:06:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,992
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15599967
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BookRockShooter/pseuds/BookRockShooter
Summary: Keith goes to talk to Lance with no real goal in mind, but their conversation leads to a few unexpected - but very welcome - confessions, anyway.-*post s6*





	to love and to be loved

**Author's Note:**

> wow when I said I was running outta inspiration for this series in the last part's notes I wasn't kidding adkjljadsj
> 
> I'm so sorry this is being posted so much later than was probably expected I've been hella distracted and uninspired for this series aH and also I'm mostly writing this so I can finally finish this series before season 7 drops in like,,, 4 days omfg
> 
> oof on that subject my tumblr dash and twitter tl have been so negative about all that we've learned about s7,,, it's pretty distressing and I hope y'all aren't feeling too anxious about everything ahh lol; (also I can't believe that we were robbed of Keith's wolf being named Yorak smh skjsjsksksj)
> 
> so yeah anyway!! this is the last part of my post s6 series (I need to change the name of it probably lmao) and I know it's not great but I hope y'all like it anyway?? lemme know!

To Keith’s relief, the conversation Lance had with Shiro had the positive effect he’d been hoping with; Lance contacts him over the comms a day later to talk again. Keith’s glad that Shiro and Krolia are sleeping when he does, because he knows they’d never let him live down the huge smile he gets when he hears Lance’s voice and sees Lance’s face again. “Hey, Lance,” he says softly, subtly covering his smile with his hand. It’s not that he’s embarrassed by being happy to see Lance, but… he’s worried Lance will find his enthusiasm silly. They did technically speak just the other day, after all.

Lance seems just as happy as Keith is, though, if his own smile is anything to go by. There is still an air of nervousness around him that Keith’s curious about, but he decides to wait to bring it up. He doesn’t want to upset Lance, so he just smiles wider when Lance says, “Keith, my man, how’s it going?”

“You seem like you’re feeling better,” Keith notes, trying to ignore how happy he gets at the words _‘my man,’_ and Lance grins wider. Keith has to glance away fleetingly because _his smile is so damn bright, it shouldn’t be allowed to look that nice._ He clears his throat and continues, “I, uh, take it that your talk with Shiro went well?”

“Yeah,” Lance admits, nodding. “He… really helped me come to terms with my, uh, situation, and… yeah, I’m feeling great about it, actually. By the way, did you know Adam? Shiro mentioned him when we were talking.”

Keith straightens in his chair in surprise. “Yeah, you didn’t know? They were together for a long time. Adam helped Shiro look after me sometimes, actually. He was a cool guy.” Keith frowns at his words. Adam was pretty cool, but after he and Shiro split up because of Kerberos, he and Adam hadn’t really interacted all that much. He can barely remember the last time he saw him. “What made Shiro bring him up?”

Lance sort of stiffens at Keith’s question, and Keith immediately backtracks, not wanting to pry too much into what Lance had discussed with Shiro. “Uh, I mean, never mind, you don’t have to mention it–”

“No, no, it’s- it’s fine,” Lance interrupts quickly, and the tone of his voice sounds weirdly anxious. It makes Keith shift restlessly in his chair. “Actually, uh… I- Keith, can I- god, why is this so _hard?_ ” Lance groans and buries his face in his hands, and Keith feels frozen to his seat. His heart is racing, and he’s fairly certain it’s due to fear. _What does he want to talk about?_

“Lance, what is it?” he asks, and Lance lifts his gaze.

“Uh… it’s- never mind,” he mutters, leaning back in his chair, and the resigned look on his face is sort of alarming. “Shiro just… suggested something I should do, and it’s nothing, like, bad, but… I guess I still need time to work myself up to it? I dunno. But… I’ll- I’ll tell you. Eventually. Sorry,” he adds a few seconds later, and Keith starts shaking his head frantically, confused but wanting to comfort Lance despite that.

“Hey, no, Lance, it’s fine. Whatever it is, you don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to, I understand. Don’t apologize for this, it’s okay.” When Lance turns to him again, Keith tries to give him a reassuring smile. To his surprise, it seems to work, as Lance returns his smile. Keith’s heart flutters, and he thinks to himself, _Wow, I like his smile way too much._

Lance says, “Thanks, Keith. That’s… relieving to hear, actually. So, yeah. I’ll… keep thinking about that.” He frowns to himself for a second, then says, “Anyway! How much longer till we come across another okay planet, you think? I’m getting tired of flying again.”

“The lions are on autopilot,” Keith says flatly, but Lance’s grin and shrug make him smile, too. “I’m not sure, actually. Coran did say that he thinks we’re nearing a safe planet soon, but we won’t know for sure for another… day, I think?”

“Okay,” Lance says, and they’re quiet for another few moments until Lance continues, voice soft: “How much longer till we reach… Earth, then?”

Keith feels a rush of sadness at the look on Lance’s face. Out of their entire group, he knows that Lance is the one who misses Earth the most, and, in Keith’s quiet opinion, he’s also the one who deserves to get home the most. Sure, the others have family back on Earth – Hunk has his, Pidge has her parents, and Shiro has Adam (and despite what Shiro says, Keith knows he does miss Adam, and a lot, at that) – but Lance is the only one who misses his family the most. Keith knows, right then, that he’ll do everything he can to get Lance home. Anything to see him happy and safe.

“I don’t know,” he admits quietly, staring past Lance to look out of the window. “But I do know that we’ll get there. I promise.” He turns back to Lance to find him already looking at him, and Keith flushes. “What?”

“Thank you, Keith,” is all Lance says, and Keith nods.

“No problem, Lance.”

-

They do come across a habitable planet like had Coran said, and decide to land for a short time. When everyone’s on the ground and outside of their lions, Allura splits them again for gathering resources – again, mostly food – and to keep an eye on the lions.

Keith ends up with Lance and Shiro this time. He can’t really help how happy this makes him.

Once their communicators are on, Keith follows them to a field behind the area they made camp. The planet they’re on is bright with colors – the grass is a weird shade of purple, the sky is orange due to the setting sun, and the fruit they find is various shades of green and red. While they’re wandering the field, they come across a stream that’s an incredible shade of blue, and Keith can’t help but stare at it for a few moments.

“This place is beautiful,” he says absently, reaching down to pull up a few pieces of the purple grass. He holds them up to examine them, squinting at them. “I wonder why the grass is purple, though?”

“I think the fact that we’re on an alien planet is the reasoning behind that, Keith,” Lance says, and Keith turns to him, fully intent on throwing the grass blades at him, but before he can, the sight of Lance makes him pause. Lance has on a wide grin, his blue eyes are bright, and a sudden light breeze is ruffling Lance’s hair. He looks…

_Beautiful_ , Keith’s mind supplies, and he drops his gaze quickly. _Fuck._

“You okay, Keith?” Lance asks, sounding concerned. Keith manages to look back up at him. He can see Shiro over Lance’s shoulder, flashing him a thumbs-up, and he barely holds back an annoyed groan. _He’s so lame,_ he thinks to himself, frowning.

“Uh… yeah,” Keith finally replies, face burning. He quickly throws the purple grass pieces at Lance, who shrieks and bats them out of the air. While he’s distracted, Keith flips Shiro off. Shiro just grins and goes back to examining the plant he’s by.

Keith picks a few fruits off of a nearby tree and gathers them in his arms. “I’m taking these back to camp,” he calls out, and Lance nods and says, “We’ll still be over here!”

“Lance, can you come help me get some fruit?” Shiro says as Keith is walking off, and he glances behind him to see Lance jogging over to Shiro. He lets himself watch for a few seconds before he goes back to camp.

He reaches the camp to find Krolia sitting on the ground and staring at the sky, Yorak sleeping beside her. Keith sets the fruits down by Coran, who waves at him when he walks by, and heads over to his mom. She looks up as he approaches and smiles.

“Hello, Keith. Have you confessed to Lance, yet?”

Keith literally freezes in place, then groans and crosses his arms. “I can’t trust Shiro around you anymore, can I?”

Krolia laughs, and Keith rolls his eyes, but the gesture feels sort of fond. “I’m sorry. I was kidding. Well, mostly.” Her smile is soft. “I just want you to be happy, Keith, and I know Lance is often the cause for said happiness. The look you get on your face when you’re around him is… it’s familiar, in a nice way.”

It dawns on Keith pretty quickly that she’s talking about his dad, and his throat tightens. “Kr-” He pauses, then swallows. “Mom.”

She looks at him again quickly, eyes wide with surprise, and he gives her a shaky smile. “Thank you. I mean… I’m happy being around you and Shiro and Yorak, of course, but…” he trails off for a moment, staring at the sky while he tries to figure out what to say. “Yeah. He does really make me… happier, I guess.” He feels himself smile as soon as he says the words. “I… I love him, actually.”

It’s not really a surprising thing, him loving Lance, but saying it out loud for the first time makes him widen his eyes and repeat, “I… I love him. Wow,” in an awed voice, anyway.

His mom chuckles and waves him off. “Go and talk to him.”

“I- yeah, okay,” he says, and he’s not sure if he actually intends on confessing to Lance now – if ever – but he does want to at least talk to him normally, for now, so he heads back to where he left Lance and Shiro.

He finds them by the vividly blue stream. Lance is sitting beside it, staring into the water, and Shiro stands next to him, looking off into the distance. When Keith reaches them, Shiro smiles and greets him. Lance looks up and smiles too, but he’s got the same nervous aura that Keith notices when they talked over the video comms the other day. It makes Keith feel worried, and he smiles back in what he hopes is a reassuring manner.

“I’m gonna go help the others,” Shiro says suddenly, and Keith frowns at him.

“Wait, what–”

Shiro just grins and jogs off before Keith can finish his confused questioning. Startled, Keith just stares after him until he’s gone, then shrugs and sits beside Lance. Their placement reminds him of the first time they sat and talked like this, the night everything sort of went to shit… again. He shakes his head to clear those thoughts and then says, “Do you know what’s up with Shiro?”

Lance starts to shrug, but he stops himself halfway and lets his shoulders drop with a heavy sigh. Keith feels another wave of worry wash over him.

“He was asking me about that- the thing again. The suggestion… thing. That.”

“Oh.” Keith isn’t sure how else to respond, so he waits for Lance to continue.

“Yeah.” Lance stares at the water for so long that Keith’s worry starts to skyrocket, but then Lance blinks and turns to Keith. His posture suggests that he’s still anxious, but he’s got a determined look in his eyes now that catches Keith off-guard. His heart starts to pound way too hard.

“You know what? I’m just gonna come out and say it.” He kind of laughs after he says it, and Keith knits his eyebrows. “’Come out and say it,’ ha-ha. Uh, anyway–” And he pauses again, taking a deep breath. He’s looking more and more nervous, and on impulse, Keith reaches out and grabs Lance’s left hand with his right.

Lance starts and then looks at him, surprised. His face flushes, and then Keith’s does a second later. He drops his gaze, cursing himself internally. _You idiot, you’re gonna scare him off!_

“It’s for… support,” he explains lamely. “You seem nervous. Uh. Sorry.” He starts to let go so he can move his hand away, but then Lance turns his hand and interlaces their fingers, like the first night they were like this. Keith’s heart is hammering, now.

“Thanks, Keith,” Lance says quietly. He takes another deep breath, then, all in one at once, says, “So basically I discovered that I was bisexual and Shiro helped me come to terms with it. Also I like you as more than a friend.” He takes another deep breath, though this one is shakier, and trains his gaze on their interlocked fingers.

Keith stares at Lance. He isn’t sure if it’s Lance’s hands that are shaking more, or if it’s his.

It’s probably his.

“I- what?” he chokes out, and his voice actually breaks at the end. “Sorry, I- _what?”_

Lance keeps staring at their hands. “I’m bi. Shiro helped me accept it. I like you.” The words are slower this time around, though still faster than Lance usually talks, and Keith knows what he heard, but. But it doesn’t make any _sense._

“Uh- okay, um, wow, Lance, I- I’m glad you were able to figure out that part of yourself,” he says, mind whirling at incredible speeds, “and I guess I should let you know what I’m gay–”

“Wait, what?”

“–but I don’t- you _like_ me? Did I hear that correctly?”

Lance is looking at him again, frowning. “Yeah, that’s what I said. And- uh, cool on being gay?” Lance winces. “Wow, that sounded awkward.” Keith wants to laugh, but he’s still too shocked to do anything other than stare at Lance. _He likes me?_ are the only words going through his mind right now. “Anyway, yeah, I l- I like you, and Shiro said that I should probably say something, I guess to just let it out, uh–”

“I l- like you too,” Keith blurts, and Lance flicks his gaze back up to meet Keith’s. They stare at each other, both blushing horribly, and Keith forces himself to keep talking before things get even more awkward. “I’ve liked you for a while, actually, and it’s actually gotten to the point where it feels like love, and- shit, no, I didn’t–” He cuts himself off with a groan, pressing his free hand into his face. _Great, now things are even worse, you fucking idiot._

“Oh, thank god,” Lance breathes, sounding weirdly relieved, and Keith peeks through his fingers to see Lance donning a toothy grin. His hand isn’t shaking as much anymore. “That’s good, because I think I sort of love you, too.”

Keith’s hand falls away from his face in shock. _“What?”_

Lance’s grin softens into a smile. “I sort of love you too, you dork. Hey, I’ve said it twice now, and you haven’t technically said it at all!” The finger he points at Keith looks accusing, but his face is playful. “You should change that.”

Keith can barely believe what he’s hearing. His heart is still pounding like crazy in his chest, but he can almost feel himself relaxing. His grip on Lance’s hand tightens. “I… I kinda love you?” It’s weird saying the words to Lance’s face, but weirder still is the fact that the words make Lance blush a darker red and smile a wider smile. “I love you,” he repeats, firmly this time, and Lance lets out a breathless laugh. Keith can’t hold back his grin at the sound.

“Wow. That’s… wow,” he repeats, and Keith laughs, too.

“Wow,” he agrees, grinning harder than he thinks he’s ever grinned. It’s a nice feeling. “Uh… now what?” he adds, looking at their joined hands. He can’t believe he’s only now noticing how well they fit together. _Wow,_ he thinks to himself.

Lance shifts closer, and Keith looks up at him, heart picking up speed again. Lance is still smiling, but it’s more serious, now. “Can… can I kiss you?” he asks softly, and Keith’s breath catches in his throat at the question. Lance wants to kiss me.

“Y-yeah,” he stammers, and Lance gets even closer, raising his right hand to rest it against Keith’s face. Keith is almost certain his heart stops right as Lance leans in and presses his lips to Keith’s.

Keith hasn’t kissed anyone before, but he’s seen other people do it, so after a moment’s hesitation, he tilts his head and kisses back as best he can. He has no idea what he’s doing, but he must be doing something right, because Lance sort of sighs and somehow moves in closer, and then one of them must move in such a way that they’re both suddenly falling over onto the ground.

Lance yelps and sort of falls on top of Keith once he hits the ground, and they’re both stone-still for a few moments while they lie there. Keith thinks he stops breathing for a second.

Then Lance is giggling, his face hidden in Keith’s chest, and Keith ends up laughing with him, and they both just lie there and laugh for what feels like a long time.

When their laughter finally dies down, Lance says, sounding far too amused, “So did you fall for me again, just now, or…?”

Keith lightly pushes him off, and Lance just lets himself fall down beside Keith, giggling again. Their hands are somehow still holding each other, and Keith smiles.

“Nah, that was definitely you falling for me again.”

“You’re lame, Mullet.”

“Your nicknames are lame, Lance.”

“At least I can come up with nicknames for people!”

They stay like that, laying in the purple grass beside each other, fingers interlocked and bickering lightly about whatever dumb things come to their minds. Above them, the sunset continues, casting an orange glow on the field around them. Lance pauses their bickering to point it out with their interlaced fingers, and Keith grins at him when he’s not looking.

He’s never felt more awake.

**Author's Note:**

> cheesy ending is cheesy!
> 
> were the parallels to the first part of this obvious skskjskjs
> 
> ah again this part isn't The Best but I'm actually kinda happy with it bc most of it is just fluff idk I'm tired lmao
> 
> I actually finished a series for once go me!! l m a o
> 
> so yes I hope y'all enjoyed, and thank you to everyone who read and kudos'd and commented, it always makes my day knowing that y'all like what I wrote here <3 so, if y'all are curious, I'll still probably write vld fic after s7 (probably more fix-it stuff if the season is as sad as everyone seems to think it'll be,,,) and if you want you can follow me on tumblr and twitter where i reblog/retweet vld stuff along with other fandoms lmaoo there's my self-promo skjskjs bye
> 
> have a good day/night, and thank y'all again!! <3 <3
> 
> random personal life note: I'm caught up on the BNHA anime and I'll probably start the manga soon :D Izuku, Todoroki, Kirishima and Iida are my absolute favorite characters atm I love them sm omg - also I lowkey wanna write fic for this series too but idk what to write skjsjks rip
> 
> okay these notes are long and messy bye now-


End file.
